Big Banks Nearing $20 Billion Lending Goal

Two years after 13 of the nation’s largest banks pledged to collectively increase lending for small businesses by $20 billion over the course of a three-year commitment, the SBA has provided an update.

The banks involved have already increased their total lending by roughly $17 billion over the past two years, putting them on track to meet their goal by the end of 2014, the SBA said last Friday.

“Under the Obama Administration, SBA has stepped up to support more than $105 billion in lending to over 185,000 small businesses, including two record years of supporting more than $30 billion dollars in loans in FY 2011 and FY 2012, respectively,” Jeanne Hulit, acting administrator of the SBA, said in a statement.

The SBA has streamlined and simplified SBA loan programs to create more access and opportunity for credit unions, banks and borrowers, Hulit said. In addition to this commitment, the agency said it also brought 1,000 community banks back to SBA lending for the first time since 2007.

“After a career in commercial banking before joining SBA and, as the head of SBA’s Office of Capital Access, I’ve seen first-hand the critical role played by private-public partnerships to get capital into the hands of the entrepreneurs and small business owners who drive our economic growth,” Hulit said.